Does Anyone Else Hate The Spurs As Much As Me Right Now?

Freak

First of all, Kobe was 18 and 19 in those respective seasons, and he only made the All-Star game in 1998 through fan voting. He barely averaged 15 PPG and 25 MPG that season.

Second, those "old as hell" Jazz teams were the two best squads in Jazz history, so it's not like Stockton and Malone were old geezers in the twilight of their career.

When I said "unbeatable," I meant with regards to this season right now, and especially the Finals. Obviously they haven't been unbeatable for the past decade, and I've already said twice that I don't consider the Spurs a "dynasty." So let it go.

No, you're right. That's stupid. And nobody's saying anything like that.

Blitzkrieg

Administrator

Wow.. looking back on this discussion, it's funny where we ended up. Pretty much the same way all NBA discussions end, we all think the league is watered down and we all miss the old NBA.

Tom is right, the 1st Spurs team could have possibly competed with the greats but this team would get destroyed. Parker and Ginobli wouldn't do shit IMO.

Freak, I'm going to let this go, yes. I'm just still pissed that the Spurs in my view are getting way too much credit for what they've done, and Duncan is being put on the same level as Bird, Magic and Jordan by a lot of the media.. and that REALLY pisses me off as well. Some are even saying Duncan has already proven to be better then Karl Malone. WTF? I just don't see it..

I want LeBron to get some help, I want the Bulls to flourish, and I want the Suns to beat the hell out of San Antonio next year! Please.. for the love of God let this happen..

Freak

Update: I just saw Tony Parker in a Subway commercial with Jared Fogle. Disregard everything good I said about the Spurs.

Blitzkrieg

Administrator

Lmao. I don't care if he's getting married to Eva.. that's GAY!

Slimdust

Do you know how much money they get paid for these comercials? I would do them. I wouldnt care. Seriously, lebron is in a comercial for some mowing tractor type deal. He dont use it but who cares. He gets paid.

Twist of Lemon

MMA Moderator

I wonder if Charles Barkley is really In Dwayne Wade's Five?

WackoJako

lol all they did was make the playoffs the year before last. The grizzlies were without their all-star PF through out most of the year (he came back early but struggled) so i wouldn't they "always suck" Plus, Rudy Gay has shown some signs he can be a really good player, hopefully the pick up Horford or Conley in the draft.


Edit- On the topic of the NBA needing to drop teams, IMO that'd just make shit worse. the problem right now isn't a lack of athletic talent, it's lack of fundamentals. Today's NBA all that seemingly matters is the highlight dunk and ISO basketball. I wouldn't find seeing 3 selfish ass players who can' shoot a jump shot to save their life all be on the same team. One example of raw talent would be the Hawks, I mean Marvin Williams was supposed to be a god send but so far he's proving he's just another athletic freshman who isn't mature enough.

Freak

I agree with Jako regarding contraction. Even the bench players on the league's weaker teams are world-class athletes, certainly physically capable of being trained to play basketball at the same level as those of fifteen years ago. It's the current philosophy among players and coaches that's bringing the league down today.

Jayman

Super Moderator

I'm not doubting that a lot of these players have talent, this is very true. I'm talking about for the sake of entertainment and ratings, it makes business sense more. Tell me, when's the last time you were flipping through the channels and just watched the Grizzlies play? I just think there's too much "fluff" in the NBA right now, and slimming it down might do some good to the sport from a competition standpoint.

We all know that between the East and West conferences, where much of the talent lies. It's been so one-sided in the playoffs, that I'm just suggesting that some of the talent is mixed up to allow more of a balance in the teams an divisions.

Of course, I understand this will never happen in reality. I'm just offering food for thought. As a casual fan of the NBA (I'll watch it if there's nothing on, but I don't make a point to catch games) I would be more enticed to watch the sport if there was more excitement. Many of you have talked about how the Pistons, for example, are a "boring" team to watch. Fair enough, but I think that about a LOT of the teams in the NBA.

It's not a question of talent, to me. It's a question of entertainment value, because let's face it: that's what this business is nowadays. It's all about the dollar bill.

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Freak

I definitely see what you're saying.

I also agree there's one thing we should get out of the way before any such discussion: that any type of league-implemented contraction is never going to happen, not with players unions the way they are.

There's a lot of talk every year in the NHL about contraction, but that has a lot more to do with the fact that several franchises (namely the American sun belt teams) are consistently losing money. I'm not sure about the NBA, but it seems like this is much less of a problem; a team like the Sonics, for instance, is in pretty dire shape right now, but moving them to another city and a new building may very well (coupled with the addition of a Kevin Durant) reinvigorate that franchise.

From a competition standpoint, with regards to contraction, I tend to disagree with you. That's because -- from a competition standpoint -- turnaround seems to happen faster in basketball than any other professional sport. (It happens in the NFL, too, but that's more to do with parity.) Look at a team like the Trailblazers: did anybody in America, outside of possibly Oregon, give a rat's ass about the team this year? Well, you can almost guarantee that their merchandise sales will soar this offseason, and I'll personally guarantee they get booked for one of those primetime NBC games next season.

Toronto is another great example. They play in the league's weakest division, but they dominated that division in 2006, one year after drafting 1st overall. And now they're in fantastic shape for the near future and beyond.

I feel like I'm rambling and I don't really know what the original point was. I've had a lot of coffee.

Oh, you were saying how it's about entertainment value, and you used the Pistons as an example. Well, the Pistons are actually one of the very few well-run teams in the NBA, and they've taken great advantage in the past few seasons of the wildly-inept coaching and organization of other teams, especially in the East. Like the Spurs, they play a boring type of basketball, but it's highly effective. Now, if a team could be that well-run AND have a star like Dwayne Wade or LeBron James -- that would be fun to watch. That's what we need.

Too much caffeine.